A slightly bewildered geek's journey through motherhood!

Review: Sony Xperia Z

Disclosure: This product was lent to me for a few weeks, free of charge by Phones 4 U, to be reviewed. However, as per my PR info disclaimer, this review is my unbiased honest opinion of the product.

Product: Sony Xperia Z

Price: Free on some contracts, £499.95 sim-free

Age Range: n/a

Manufacturer’s Description: Xperia Z – Experience the best of Sony in a smartphone.

5″ Full HD 1080p Display with BRAVIA Engine 2

13 MP Camera with Exmor RS for HDR Video and imagine

Snapdragon S4 Pro Quad-core processor with 2GB RAM

Water and Dust Resistant – IP55 & IP57 Rated

Durability with Dragontrail glass front and back

Introducing the precision engineered full HD smartphone.

Rating: (4/5 stars)

Review: We were sent a Sony Xperia Z to try out for a few weeks, and in the interest of a proper trial, I swapped the micro-sim from my iPhone and popped it into the Sony, before tucking my iPhone away in the drawer, where it stayed for 95% of the time.

My first impressions of the phone were that it seemed really nice; sleek, shiny, and of good quality. It comes with a micro-USB cable and a neat little plug for charging, with the third prong slotting into place when in use, and tucking out of the way when you want to slip it into your bag.

The main thing about this phone was that it seemed BIG. I am used to my 4S which has a 3.5 inch screen, so the 5 inch screen of the Xperia Z seemed huge to me. There’s no denying that the Xperia Z has a beautiful screen; it is sharp, bright and fantastic for looking at photos or video.

The large screen comes with a downside however, as I had trouble reaching the whole of the screen without shuffling it around in my hand, and the edging around the front of the phone dug in slightly. I think the screen also impacts on the battery life, which wasn’t as amazing as it feels like it should have been, especially when I was running a few apps.

These points aside, however, I really enjoyed using the phone. I’ve never used an android phone before so it was a real learning experience, and I did get used to how things worked by the time I sent it back! I love the widgets you can have on your home screen, and although I didn’t find it as intuitive to use as iOS I would be perfectly fine after a couple more weeks practise.

The high specs of this phone mean that it performs beautifully; the 1.5 GHz quad-core chip powering this thing lets you run multiple apps at once, keep Skype and Facebook messenger logged on in the background, and play games all at once. It runs a little warm sometimes, but I didn’t experience any lag.

Sony have put a lot of thought into the design, although the speaker placement at the bottom right meant that sometimes I was muffling the sound with my hand, and I didn’t think that the camera was as good as I expected it would be.

The Xperia Z claims to be waterproof and dust resistant, which is fantastic from a parents’ point of view – who doesn’t love taking photos of their kids in the bath?! This phone means you can look forward to a future of embarrassing your kids later in life when their first girlfriend/boyfriend comes around, without the need to stress about dropping your phone into the bath – just fish it out and you’ll be fine!

As I was only borrowing this handset, I wasn’t quite brave enough to actually dunk the phone, however a friend of mine has just bought this model and has successfully showered with it, so I’m inclined to believe the claims! The casing of the phone is cleverly designed with flaps covering the micro-USB, headphone socket, etc, to protect it from the elements. Although these sorts of thing annoy me usually they are necessary for the protective factor!

Google Play allows access to the many apps available for android devices, and as well as all the usual suspects I found some fun games and handy utilities. I played about with customising the phone, installing a custom keyboard and messing about with the various settings.

Georgie had a play around with the phone, and once she figured out where the on button was she enjoyed playing with the apps I downloaded for her.

Overall I give this phone 4 out of 5 stars. Although I wouldn’t purchase it myself, I would certainly recommend it for someone looking for a new Android smartphone… unless they have small hands!

I would have loved a Sony Experia Z when I chose my phone, but ended up with a Samsung Galaxy instead and although I love Sony as a brand I do think the camera on my phone is every bit as good despite the seemingly lower spec – however the water-resistance is an amazing factor and something that really will swing the deal for my partner!

@zoecorkhill fab review 🙂 did you breathe a sigh of relief when you switched back to your 4s?

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Hi, I’m Zoe

Welcome to Mama Geek, the tale of a 30-something geek as I stumble through the weird & wonderful world of motherhood! I have two little girls, Georgie & Lydia, a fab husband, James, and an adorable, if stupid, dog named Homily. I'm work from home as a web & graphic designer. Stick around to share our journey!

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